We may appear to be bit quiet in August but we are busy behind the scenes as it's when we focus on planning for the year ahead - 2020. However it's still business as usual as we tackle a key topic and this month we take a look at the ways you are using social media to drive change.

What can you look forward to this month?

Our social media manager Vanessa Hardy will kick off the month with a welcome in the Member Zone - and pose the big question, "How do organisations / networks use social media well to drive cultural change on disability?"

Towards the end of the month our CEO Kate Nash OBE will be discussing some of the trends and challenges of using social media with our members from M&S, Barts Health NHS Trust and our social media manager Vanessa Hardy for a new member only podcast.

Finally we invite you to drop into the Member Zone between 16:00 - 17:00 on Tuesday 27th August 2019 for our MZChat led by social media manager Vanessa Hardy.

The four questions for discussion are:

1. What social media platforms are members using to drive greater engagement?
2. What are the pros and cons of using social media, and where are the pitfalls?
3. Which members use some of the external 'hooks', such as the #IAm Confident campaign?
4. How do you make sure you take account of the accessibility features being built into different platforms?

Diary alert

Its only four months away before International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPWD) and you are probably already thinking about how you use this day to raise awareness of disability across your organisation. As a mark of respect to the purpose of IDPWD, which aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilise support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disability - and as a way of highlighting the importance of organisations learning directly from their own disabled employees - we stimulated the #PurpleLightUp to coincide with the day on 3rd December.

Start to think about what your organisation can do in its quest to learn directly from disabled people as it improves the life chances of disabled people - and how you can use social media to support #IDPWD and #PurpleLightUp.

Can't wait? Then take a look at our guide "Virtually Purple" which you can find in our member resource section of the Member Zone.